Which parts of your Fairphone 2 had to be replaced?

Me also I have my FP2 for one and a half year only and I already had to change the camera module, the cover and the battery. The cover got broken when I was looking for this dammed code number the FP2 repair system asked for before I could register for a repair request when the phone battery got discharged straight after being unplugged. While for the camera module the original one never worked and I had to ask for a replacement. Hopefully the FP2 team were always very friendly and helpful and I received all the material back within few days after having sent the phone to be repaired. I received a new battery through DHL but it didn’t help, it got discharged as quickly as the previous one. When my correspondant at FP told me that there was no other alternative than sending the phone to be repaired, I got a second nice surprise: all of the sudden it started to work properly again as if it was a self recovery! Maybe due to the Android new version update?

Lots of problems with touchscreen (‘ghost touches’, graduating to dead areas) and unexpected shutdowns which meant I had to open up the cover to take the battery out and put it back in to reboot. Raised call on site and touchscreen replaced very quickly and efficiently. Still had some shutdown issues, but appear to have been cured by Android 6 update. Constant removing of cover meant it split and I had to get a new one.

I’ve got four fairphones (family fleet). Three had the old cases, two of them split and had to be replaced, the other one is soldiering on. One bottom module had a broken USB port, another the microphone stopped working (possibly due to water damage). I replaced both bottom modules without difficulty.

All are currently working ok.

1 Like
  • When I got my FP2, the video camera could not focus, so I got a new one from Fairphone
  • The transparent case split apart pretty soon. I got a replacement end of August last year.
  • Now my replacement case split again. Will probably need to get a replacement again, but I’d like to get the transparent cover again which is discontinued :frowning:
  • And now my camera module has dust inside. I doubt that it’s possible to clean it. And like @Josh-Au I want to wait for a new camera, but that could take a while I fear.

I’ve had several software and update related issues needing to factory reset 4 times over one year only, plus :

  • display not working properly (I just reached for the support on this regard)
  • back cover being slightly bigger than then phone (especially around the volume button) and now just split apart (after I got in touch with the support, so I’ll have to add this when they answer me).

The saddest part is that the phone is inside a strong and secure protection 95% of the time, and never had any slight impact since I got it… You pay for an ethical item (and I’m glad to do so), but you don’t get the expected quality for such an amount (I never had a smartphone before so I might be biased here).

  • Cover (started dissoving around the volume buttons
  • Cover (a second time with the same issue, but I won’t replace it now and will rather try to get more sturdy one printed)
  • bottom module (primary mic stopped working after 8 months or so)
  • bottom module (same issue again. I think, the contacts wear off after a while, since applying pressure temporarily makes it work again at the cost of the health of my thumb)
  • Got my original transparent cover replaced twice for splitting apart. Replacement worked like a charm both times (within a week I had a new cover).
  • Got a new display, as I dropped my phone one to many time and ended up with the colour pixels problem. Ordering the new display took less than a week again.
    The display had the bright spot issue as well, wich I just noticed, after reading about it on the forum a few times. It never bothered me and I therefore happily ignored it.
  • 2 old-style covers. 1 via warranty. Buttons worn out, not fitting anymore, and some minor scratches.
  • Display, dropped it and had a small artifact from that, plus bright spot problem. It wasn’t annoying during e.g. browsing but it became annoying whilst watching videos. Bought new one.
  • Bottom module. Had mic problem being heavily distorted, and didn’t wanna wait so just bought this module.
  • One battery after 1,5 years. Old one’s still my reserve battery. Using the paper trick.
  • I also replace the cameras but that doesn’t qualify as “had to be replaced”.

Overall, seemingly some common defects through these lists can be noticed, but I’m still happy with the phone. My happiness is going to depend on how long its gonna last on the longer term though. Cause that’s where the other ****ers fail massively.

Hat to replace the display in november, because of common touch illness, replacement was on warranty, of course.

I have just purchased my fourth bottom module (I have had my phone for 2 years). It’s my fault for being clumsy and dropping my phone off it’s charger but I really, really hope the next fairphone will be a bit more robust against that sort of thing. It’d definitely save me some cash!

And I’ve just bought a new battery to see if it improves the time between charges.

The USB socket is a weak point in all phones, it’s a shame the whole bottom module must be changed to replace it. Some relability centred design rather than randomly assigning functions to blocks woul be good. You can repair modules, but can’t get the parts to do it. Submodule spares perhaps?

2 Likes

I fully agree on this.

Replacing a µUSB socket is generally possible as there are not many variations.
Every half way ordinary electronics dealer should have them in stock.
They are all weak by design what´s the disadvantage of all miniaturized smd manufactured parts.
Haven´t you ever before heard of someone having troubles with his non-fairphone µUSB socket? At least that´s what I have.
Similar with the audio jack.

Modularity has to be kept in a meaningful way, otherwise there is no benefit. Most other phones are not modularized. It´s up to the user, in case he should get his fingers on to the required spare part to replace it, if he can. That´s the cheapest way. No unneeded parts to pay for. But we all know how well this works.

@Bridget_A

I´m afraid having to agree…:face_with_raised_eyebrow:

Why not get yourself a magnetic charging cable, they are quite comfortable to use and not expensive. E.G. “Goobay” sell several of them. This could help you in such charging issues.

I am afraid the focus won´t be on this specifically. Otherwise someone else who tends to drop his phone want´s to have Gorilla Glass 5 and again someone else prefers to have a high quality steel metal frame, shock proof and water resist.
After all it´s still a phone folks. But I have news for some, Samsung, Sony etc. sell such tough models. And I think the price is even lower than for a FP2.

Imagine how ridiculous this would sound when stepping up to a car manufacturer. “You know Sir, I just shortly slightly bumped into an 18 wheeler…and…well, how to say…something on my car broke off :wink: So I really think you have a serious stability issue with the product you have sold me that requires a future advancement…and therefore this damage should be covered by warranty” :rofl:

See here.

There are several users including me who do not face any troubles with their µUSB or audio jack and I wonder how this is achieved. The only possibility I can imagine of is most probably there are already better, stronger FP2 out there.
:roll_eyes:

If the main use is charging, and not too many other connections have to be made, there are magnetic adapters which work quite well and hopefully prolong the life of the part …

1 Like

I’m in the process of replacing my screen. Entirely my own fault - I forgot the phone was in my back pocket and bent down while cleaning the bathroom. You can guess where the phone finished up!
One of the lovely Angels came over to my area and investigated it for me - as a new user I was scared of taking the modules to pieces for the first time. He diagnosed that it was working OK, except for the screen. The display kept jumping around and it was no longer touch-sensitive.
My only real problem is the Fairphone website - I go round and round in circles before I find the page I need. Does anyone else have this problem, or am I just getting old and silly?

It’s not just you, there have been posts about that before.
And it doesn’t help that their server seems to have developed glitches here and there lately as well.

Anyway … as the English display page doesn’t work for me right now because of such a glitch, have the German one instead … just see whether you can put the display in your cart and set your preferred language in the page menu afterwards to continue …

https://shop.fairphone.com/de/ersatzteile/fairphone-2-display-modul

1 Like

Thank you, AnotherElk – I did find and order the screen eventually. The glitch appeared to be because I hadn’t remembered to sign in before searching. It then showed me the picture of a screen, but wouldn’t go to the details page so I could order it. Once signed in, it worked.

It would help if they could put a notice up to remind people like me to sign in before trying to do things!

It’s lovely to find other people have the same problems. Once you know you’re not alone, you feel safer trying new stuff!

Carol

Carol Thornton

I have sent an email to the support a few days ago for the battery page not being shown to anyone not being logged in. The respond was “I” should clear my browser cache although a few other users here could confirm this problem as well.
Also I was told the service was to be checking on this on their server side.
Shortly after this the battery page was reachable again. But as it looks the issue is not yet entirely fixed.
Usually login in is no need to see those spare parts, but momentarily it is the working way.

Thanks Patrick1.
I think I’m getting the hang of it – basically there’s no hurry, everybody’s laid back and it’ll all work out in the end! :wink:

Carol Thornton

The ONLY replaceable module in my un-fairphone (a Moto G I use when the FP2 is waiting parts) is the USB socket; the rest of it is a virtually unmaintainable block (tho a water resistant block, which is nice).

It would have been good if the FP2 bottom module had the USB socket on a small PCB that could be swapped out without the need for a new microphone, speaker and vibration motor.

… and yes, some of us are clumsy.

But now, my microphone has become intermittently noisy so having replaced the bottom module once for the usb socket, now I’m going to replace it again for the microphone … and this time I will keep the old module for spares.

Anyway … I started this topic ages ago to see if people were finding the modularity itself a reliability problem. Seems not; the modules sometimes fail, but generally not their connections to the main board.

This topic was automatically closed 182 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.